The train driver in the courtyard

As the sun sets and the cold wind howls, a bicycle is speeding through the streets of the capital like an arrow.

Li Aiguo grabbed the cold handlebars, but his heart was warm.

The call I just received was from Chief Xing of the locomotive depot. The content was simple: "Get to the locomotive depot immediately!"

Old Chinese people are all aware of the truth that "the less content, the bigger the matter."

This is the rhythm of a big task.

Are we going to launch a special train?
After Li Aiguo came to this era, he drove passenger trains, freight trains, and even military trains, but he had never driven a special train!
It is the honor of every train driver to operate a special train.

We, Li Aiguo, will realize this today.
With excitement in his heart, he rushed into the section chief's office.

Xing Duanchang said bluntly: "Aiguo, you must come with me to the Russians right away."

The dream was shattered. Li Aiguo's passion was extinguished.

"Captain, I'll go home and prepare right away!" Without any hesitation or asking for reasons, Li Aiguo agreed.

Xing Duanchang looked at him with relief, nodded and explained: "The New Year is just a few days away. It is indeed inappropriate for you to go on a business trip with me at this time. But there is no other way. You were named."

Li Aiguo has already reserved the title of National Advanced Train Driver. He will receive the award at a conference in two days and also attend a New Year's tea party.

Generally speaking, Duan Li would never let him leave the capital at this critical time.

But after listening to Director Xing's explanation, the resentment in Li Aiguo's heart disappeared without a trace.

The story begins with the residual heat greenhouse.

After Andrei returned to his country, he immediately took major action and built five large residual heat greenhouses around Moscow using thermal power plants.

Now the greenhouse is about to start formal operation. Andre is worried that there might be problems with the greenhouse, so he invites Li Aiguo, the developer, to go to Moscow for acceptance.

Well, the boomerang hit me on the head again.

For the sake of the SAM-5 missile, Li Aiguo decided to provide after-sales service.

"Go back and pack your luggage right now. We will take a train from the capital to Moscow early tomorrow morning."

"Yes!"

After returning home, Li Aiguo told Chen Xueru the news that he was going to Moscow on a business trip.

Chen Xueru, who was busy making pancakes, shook her hands slightly and some dough residue fell onto the stove.

Li Aiguo reached out to take the spoon, and the snow-white batter spilled onto the bottom of the black iron pot.

"We are a bit far from Moscow, so this business trip will probably take a month."

After a while, Chen Xueru finally came to her senses. She bit her lip and said, "Brother Aiguo, go ahead. I'll be waiting for you at home."

As the wife of a train driver, Chen Xueru has long been prepared for her husband to go out on missions at any time.

Besides, can the New Year be compared to the wedding night? Chen Xueru felt that she was also contributing to the construction of the railway.

Multi-grain pancakes, sweet potato flour pancakes, and salted radish strips are cut very finely and specially drizzled with sesame oil.

The dark red sweet potato flour represents gold, and the fillings are wrapped with a thin layer of coarse grain flour, which represents silver.

It was served piping hot.

Take a bite, it's fluffy, soft and sticky and so delicious.

Take another sip of the sweet sweet potato porridge and you will feel warm all over.

Chen Xueru sipped the porridge, hesitated for a moment, and ultimately did not ask Li Aiguo what his mission was this time.

After eating and drinking, Chen Xueru did not rest. She immediately cleaned the stove and dishes, then boiled a large pot of water and went into the bathroom to clean herself.

"Brother Aiguo, it's late, let's rest."

Looking at Chen Xueru's flushed face, Li Aiguo turned his head to look at the setting sun shining through the window, then picked up the Linggui wine and drank it all in one gulp.

He strode over.

"Li Aiguo, answer the phone!"

From outside came Aunt Fat's loud roar, as she had just finished her meal and the white buns piled up in her throat.

Li Aiguo looked at the beautiful lady on the bed, sighed, and slowly buttoned his clothes.

He knew that if he pretended not to hear it, Aunt Fat would start broadcasting.

"wait me back."

Li Aiguo gritted his teeth and said this, then rushed out of the house.

Xu Damao was squatting at the door, eating with an enamel bowl in his hand, and looking at him with a laugh.

"Aiguo, I'm very busy today. I received two calls in one afternoon."

The tone of envy and jealousy was palpable.

Are you envious of this thing?

I envy you, Dier!
After saying something perfunctorily, Li Aiguo quickly ran to the front yard.

I saw that Aunt Fat had put her hands over her mouth, took a deep breath, and was about to yell.

"Auntie Fatty, don't panic. I'm here. Don't scare the children in the compound into tears."

Seeing Li Aiguo coming over, Auntie Pang put down her hand angrily and said, "Be quicker next time. I'm still waiting to get off work."

"Thank you, Auntie Pang. I'll treat you to candy some other day." Li Aiguo said with a smile.

"That's okay. It's because you're a sensible kid. If it were someone else, I wouldn't bother coming over to inform them. I wouldn't earn a penny."

Aunt Pang's face blossomed when she heard this.

While chatting, Li Aiguo followed Aunt Pang to the supply and marketing cooperative and picked up the telephone receiver from the counter.

A voice came from the receiver: "Come to the weather station immediately."

With a click, the opponent died immediately.

Wow, such short words again. Could something big have happened again?

Li Aiguo's heart skipped a beat.

I'm going to take a train to the Russians tomorrow. Now the weather station also has a mission. Do I have to cancel the trip to the Russians?
If we don’t provide after-sales service, will we appear unprofessional? Will the customers be angry?

Carrying something on my mind.

Li Aiguo threw out two cents and rode his bicycle towards the Shijingshan Meteorological Station.

The pedals were so fast along the way that the bicycle arrived at the gate in a short while.

"Driver Li, someone is waiting for you in Office 2." The man in a gray Zhongshan suit at the door opened the side door without waiting for the bicycle to stop.

Office No. 2 is an office of relatively high level, and it seems that the mission this time is of great importance.

Li Aiguo cheered up, put aside all distractions, and parked his bicycle under the eaves.

He straightened his collar, adjusted his oil-covered hat, and was about to knock on the door.

The door opened from the inside.

A familiar face appeared in front of him.

"Team Leader Cat, you're back?" Li Aiguo asked in surprise.

That’s right, the person standing in front of him was the old cat who had not been seen for several months and should be in the Gobi Desert at this moment.

Just like last time, the old cat's face was clouded with gloom.

Maybe it was Li Aiguo's illusion. How could a man like Lao Mao smile so happily?
"Come in and chat." The old cat looked outside cautiously and turned sideways.

When Li Aiguo entered the office, he found that in addition to the old cat, Lao Hei, Lao Bai, and Yan Zi had all returned.

There was a drawing spread out on the desk, and they were analyzing something.

When they saw Li Aiguo come in, they all stood up and greeted him.

The comrades met again after a long separation, and there were sparks of joy in their eyes, but they did not show it, and just nodded to each other.

The atmosphere in the office was serious and solemn. Li Aiguo thought to himself that there must be a big task this time.

"Captain Cat, what do you need me to do?"

The door was closed, all the noise was blocked outside, and Li Aiguo asked with his chest straightened.

"Look at this." Old Cat pointed to the drawing on the table.

Lao Hei took the initiative to make way for him.

Li Aiguo leaned over to take a closer look. The drawing consisted of three parts: one was the overall view, one was the side view, and the other was the top view.

Li Aiguo studied it for a moment, frowned and said, "This should be a train carriage."

"Yes, it's a train carriage." The old cat nodded in appreciation.

Yan Zi smiled and said, "Well, I said it would be a good idea to invite driver Li."

Li Aiguo realized that this mission had already started and he was only added to the team temporarily.

"Team Leader, what is the mission?"

"We don't have time to waste, so let's make it short." Old Cat suppressed his smile and explained the whole story.

In fact, it has been nearly half a month since the five-member group returned to Beijing.

They were going to carry out a secret mission, the details of which even Lao Mao didn't know.

All we know is that the target is in a suitcase.

The target might be a list of names, a few letters, or even a book.

All they need to do is take a picture of the box's contents with their camera.

The box will be taken onto the international train tomorrow by two Russian foreign affairs personnel.

In order to avoid disputes, the five-member team can only take action abroad and must not attract the attention of the Russian foreign affairs personnel.

The five-member team studied the problem for more than ten days but still had no confidence in completing the task.

Lao Mao found Li Aiguo's name on the passenger list of tomorrow's international train, so he temporarily proposed that Li Aiguo join the group.

The proposal was agreed by the farmer.

After listening to this, Li Aiguo took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and lit it with a match.

The spicy taste filled his lungs and his mind was exceptionally clear.

"Team leader, the Russians' foreign affairs personnel are probably messengers. The box should contain the Qingbao collected from us."

Lao Hei stretched out his hand towards Yan Zi: "Comrade Yan Zi, you lose."

Yan Zi reluctantly took out fifty cents and put it in Lao Hei's hand.

"Patriotic, can't you be stupid for once? You owe me this fifty cents."

Li Aiguo: "."

Lao Mao is no longer surprised by the little games played among team members.

After all, when you could die at any time, any happiness is hard to come by.

Old Cat lit up his cigar and explained slowly, "The box was declared as diplomatic mail. Because diplomatic mail enjoys immunity, we have no way to inspect it, so it is often used by the Russian Cheka to deliver Qingbao."

"We are used to this kind of behavior of the Russians, and we have never stopped them before."

Li Aiguo paused at this point, raised his head to look at Lao Mao, and said in a low voice: "This Qingbao is very important. It is so important that we must find out who leaked it even at the risk of breaking up with each other."

Inside the office, the atmosphere was as solemn as a heavy curtain, making people feel subtly depressed.

The light was dim, pale and cold, shining on the office desk, casting a faint halo.

Yan Zi and Lao Hei, who were joking just now, looked tense.

The old cat didn't expect Li Aiguo to be so sensitive. He was silent for a moment and smiled bitterly, "The farmer didn't tell us the specific situation."

The fact that Lao Mao did not deny it was enough to prove his guess. This level of matter was not something Li Aiguo could get involved in, nor was he willing to get involved.

All he had to do was open the box and take pictures of what was inside.

"Team leader, what are you going to do?" Li Aiguo asked.

Old Cat smoked a cigar, pointed at the blueprint and said, "Once the train leaves the border, we plan to pretend to be crew members, knock on their door, subdue them and take the box.

After taking the photos, return the box.

Those two old Russian Chekas must not dare to speak out because their files were taken.”

Li Aiguo nodded silently.

The Cheka are more familiar with the Cheka than ordinary people, and are more afraid of the Cheka.

The old cat's idea makes sense from a psychological point of view.

"But you invited me here, so you must have encountered some problems."

Yan Zi raised her hand and said, “Yes, we have taken international trains three times and followed those two Russians.

After crossing the border, all the police officers on the train were replaced by Russians.

They set up patrols outside the box.

We can’t knock on the door without alerting the patrols.”

Once the patrol officers' suspicion is aroused, even if they are subdued, the whole incident will be reported by them, and it will be impossible for the two Chekas to conceal it.

The office suddenly fell into silence, and everyone turned their eyes to Li Aiguo.

Whenever he encounters a difficult problem, this train driver can always come up with some incredible but practical solutions.

Li Aiguo tapped the table lightly with his fingers and his eyes fell on the drawing.

He felt his pocket and realized that he had forgotten his pen at home.

"Use mine." Old Cat handed over a pen.

Li Aiguo took it and pointed at the drawing with the tip of his pen.

"The car bodies used for international trains are manufactured by the Kalinin Rolling Stock Plant. They are the most advanced car bodies in the world and have built-in ventilation devices.

The device is connected to a wind rotor at the top of the rotating shaft on the roof of the vehicle, which can keep the air in the vehicle fresh without opening the windows.

Hearing this, Lao Mao's eyes lit up: "You mean, we can use the ventilation device to inject anesthetic gas into the car, knock those two old Russians unconscious, then open the window from the outside and jump into the car to complete the mission."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Lao Mao realized that something was wrong.

"It is almost impossible to inject anesthetics on a high-speed train, let alone jump into the train through the window."

Yan Zi also opposed this course of action.

"You guys are crazy, this is too risky!"

Lao Hei and Lao Bai, two old comrades who have been carrying out missions on the edge of danger for many years, also looked frightened.

Li Aiguo looked around and asked, "Besides this method, do you have any other feasible plans of action?"

Everyone was silent.

The Russian courier who carried out the mission was himself an expert in the Cheka and had already done enough precautions.

It is almost impossible to steal things from them.

Everyone knew that only Li Aiguo, a train driver, was capable of this task.

Lao Mao took a deep puff of his cigar, looked at Li Aiguo and asked, "How sure are you?"

"Fifty percent." Li Aiguo threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out with his shoe sole. "But I can guarantee that even if the mission is not completed, no one will find out."

Lao Mao's heart trembled, he knew very well what Li Aiguo meant.

"patriotic."

Yan Zi then shouted, "Team Leader, this is too dangerous. You can't let Driver Li take such a big risk."

"Yan Zi, people who do our kind of work have long been prepared to disregard life and death." Li Aiguo turned his head and looked at Yan Zi.

Yan Zi raised her hand to protest, but it stopped in mid-air and finally fell down weakly.

Lao Hei and Lao Bai also turned their heads away gently.

If possible, they would rather carry out this mission instead of Li Aiguo.

But they had calculated that if they were to carry out the mission, they would not have even a 10% chance of success.

The atmosphere in the room was very solemn. Lao Mao finished smoking a whole cigar before he made up his mind.

"Driver Li, this mission is handed over to you! Don't worry, if anything happens to you, your family will be taken care of by the organization!" Lao Mao patted Li Aiguo's shoulder and said in a deep voice.

Li Aiguo raised his hand and saluted him.

Tears glistened in Yan Zi's eyes. In her hazy vision, that figure seemed particularly majestic.

It was early the next morning.

Li Aiguo woke up to the sound of pots and pans clanging.

After getting dressed, I went to the kitchen and saw Chen Xueru making pancakes.

"You're up now. I'll make you some bread to eat on the way."

There was flour on the tip of Chen Xueru's pen, which made her look as cute as a kitten. Li Aiguo couldn't help but walk over and smack it.

"Food is provided free of charge on the train. I heard there is also free coffee. There is no need for these cakes."

"Free food, coffee? What kind of train is this?" Chen Xueru widened her eyes in surprise.

“International trains.”

Chen Xueru tilted her head and thought for a long time, but still couldn't remember the name.

This is not to say that Chen Xueru is ignorant.

But this international train from Beijing to Moscow, which opened in 1954, is not open to the public.

At that time, most of the people taking this train were leaders, delegations, foreign affairs personnel, and even heads of state.

The security of the vehicle is also very strict. It does not stop on the platform, but is hidden in the inner warehouse at the end of the third track of Jingcheng Station.

Therefore, many Western media at the time called this train the "Mysterious Orient Train."

Due to the strict security, Li Aiguo and Xing Duanchang arrived at Beijing Station half an hour early.

When they arrived at the gate of the inner warehouse, they were stopped by the railway police.

"Comrade, please show your ID."

Director Xing handed over both of their IDs.

The certificate is in both Chinese and Russian, with a photo and a stamp on it, making it almost impossible to counterfeit.

The railway police were extremely serious and even used a flashlight to check the steel stamp.

At this moment, a voice came from a distance: "Isn't this Li Dache?"

Li Aiguo turned his head and saw Zhang Dache and his comrades from the driver team walking towards them from a distance.

Zhang Da Che was a Chinese driver on an international train. The railway police were very familiar with him. Seeing that several people knew each other, they curiously asked, "Zhang Da Che, are you friends?"

"This is Comrade Li Aiguo from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, now Li Dache. Damn Old Cao, you are really lucky." Zhang Dache felt a little depressed when he looked at Li Aiguo.

It is the dream of every truck driver to train a driver apprentice to become a "truck driver".

Zhang Dache also accepted many disciples, but none of them could reach the level of "Dache".

Cao Wenzhi, that hot guy, just picked it up and realized his dream
It is easier to get things done with acquaintances, and the security check that would have taken another half a day was greatly accelerated.

Li Aiguo and Xing Duanchang followed Zhang Dache into the warehouse.

The red logo is particularly eye-catching on the dark green metal body. The international train is like a mighty dragon, quietly parked on the track.

What surprised Li Aiguo was that there was no train number on the body of the train.

Li Aiguo looked around the train. To ordinary people, he was just admiring the majestic international train.

This is perfectly normal for someone who is taking an international train for the first time.

But Li Aiguo had memorized the external structure of carriage No. 3 and even rehearsed it in his mind.

At this time, he noticed two old Russians in black coats walking towards him from a distance. One of them was carrying a suitcase with handcuffs on his wrists.

These two people should be the Russian foreign affairs personnel.

Sure enough, when they saw the Russian foreign affairs personnel, several Russians who had been waiting by the train opened the door of carriage No. 3.

A man who looked like a leader saw that there was no need to queue in carriage number three and wanted to go over, but was stopped.

"Comrade, I'm sorry, this is a carriage for foreign affairs."

The low-ranking leader could only give up after hearing this and walked towards the back carriage with his handbag.

"Stop looking, it's time to get on the bus." Section Chief Xing, who was queuing to get on the bus, gently pushed Li Aiguo.

Li Aiguo saw Lao Mao and Yan Zi standing in the distance. He calmly picked up the box and followed Captain Xing Duanchang to the fifth carriage with the ticket.

Li Aiguo discovered that this carriage was different from ordinary carriages. There were no hard seat carriages, and the lowest-level berths were also hard sleeper carriages.

Although he was invited to go to the Russians, Director Xing was reluctant to waste money and chose No. 1 Middle School, where he had two berths.

"Aiguo, I spent most of last night writing my application report, so I'm going to bed now."

After getting on the train, Director Xing Duan lay down on his bunk and fell into a deep sleep.

Li Aiguo leaned on the lower bunk, took out a book and started reading.

There were not many people on the train. It was not until the train started that a young man dressed in youth clothes and looking like a student hurriedly pushed open the door of the compartment and walked in.

Seeing someone in the box, the young man greeted politely.

"Comrade, I'm Yu Jinan from the Foreign Affairs Department."

"Hello, I'm Li Aiguo, a train driver from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, and that's our section chief."

Li Aiguo thought the journey would be very boring, but when he saw he had companions, he shook hands with Yu Jinan warmly.

After some conversation, Li Aiguo learned that Yu Jinan was a cadre assigned by his superiors to study with the Russians for a period of one year.

This kind of study is regular study and started in May 1951.

Yu Jinan was supposed to fly directly to Moscow after transferring in Irkutsk with the team leader and translator.

But just before departure, he suddenly fell ill and missed the team.

Li Aiguo had also heard of such study groups.

Every comrade who returns from studying will be given an important position, so learning opportunities are very rare.

And Yu Jinan could also ask the study group to wait for him.

This shows that he either has a solid foundation or is very capable.

"You also come from a working-class family?"

"My father was a steel worker at Anshan Iron and Steel Company. Later, I studied at Beijing University and was assigned to work in the foreign affairs department after graduation."

Looking at the humble Yu Jinan, Li Aiguo knew that he was the latter.

Because Yu Jinan came from a working-class family, he was less arrogant than the kids from the working class, and he had a lively conversation with Li Aiguo.

Yu Jinan was trained as a talent for the foreign affairs department. He is very interested in the international situation and most of the topics he talks about are related to the international situation.

He discovered that the train driver had a unique perspective on the international situation.

(End of this chapter)